A dental scanner device to be applied in general both in the field of stomatology, and dental prosthetics manufacturing.
More specifically, it is an intraoral dental scanner for 3D teeth and gingivae imaging through a corresponding visualizing device.
No manual manipulation whatsoever by an operator is necessary, as it is fully automated; it is introduced in the patient's oral cavity; the patient holds it by exerting pressure when biting it; therefore, the patient himself is the scanning fixed-reference system.
Teeth and gingivae 3D diagnostic and therapeutic images have been traditionally obtained by using replicas or models from alginate-impressed molds. Such replicas get gingiva and tooth negative images, which are later on converted into positive, and then scanned. However, these mainstream techniques pose a double problem: the patient is uncomfortable; and they are not very reliable and accurate; thus, the process is slow and costly.
There are several state-of-the-art devices that try to solve the problems posed by mainstream techniques; e.g.: panoramic dental X rays or computerized dental tomographies:
EP 0825837, “Modular intra-oral imaging system video camera”, for instance, mainly provides a I-hand-held video camera to take images of the patient's inner part of the mouth. The camera has a socket; in the inner part of the socket there is a base, and a visualizing device, as well as a socket's long axis optically aligned sensor that converts into data the images taken by the camera.
US 2006154198 3D dental scanner is both an imaging method and a system to get images of the dental structure in the inner part of the oral cavity, through the motion of at least one image capturer set on an fixed-reference-system coupled arm, external to the mouth, to generate a 3D model of the structure, based on the images captured.
ES2 383 220, “Intraoral dental imaging sensor and X-ray system, using such sensor” is an intraoral dental radiological system equipped with a mouth-insertable x-ray imaging sensor. It is made up of an image-detection matrix to provide electronic signals. The system comprises a light source to receive the matrix-generated signals; it emits binary light impulses corresponding to a digital image to be transmitted; it also has a light receiver placed at a certain distance from the patient; it can detect a light modulation triggered by the light source; it can transmit to the image-treating device the signal corresponding to such modulation.
Lastly, ES2324658 (T3), “Laser-digitalizing system for dental applications” is a laser digitilizer that has a light source with collimation optics to generate a collimated light beam; a scanner optically coupled with the light source (configured to scan the collimated beam towards the object to be optically represented in a predetermined pattern); an imaging instrument with an optical axis in a e angle with the scanner; this is set up to detect a pattern reflection from the object, and generate the object surface representative data, based on the pattern reflection; and a scanner-coupled processor, and [Sic.] the imaging system, configured to render a data-based 3D image of the object; it is characterized by the fact that the scanner is set up to scan the collimated beam all along at least to axes in the predetermined pattern. Such pattern encompasses a series of curvilinear segment”.
These state-of-the-art devices and systems have several inconveniences. First, in some cases, a technician must manually operate them with a toothbrush-like motion, which, obviously, is inaccurate. Likewise, they are based on photographs taken by the various devices; usually, a software interprets and interpolates such photographs to take a final 3D image. Thus, besides the time needed to get the final image, these known systems depend on the operator's skill for manipulating the camera and inserting it in not-easy-to-reach parts of the mouth. Other known devices do not depend so much on manual operation, but have an external fixed-coordinate system, independent of the patient; therefore, the final image is exclusively based on the images captured with no extra projection; thus, they are not very accurate, as the reference system changes with the slightest movement of the patient.